Lo de Marcos
Village in Banderas Bay on the Pacific Ocean
A quiet beach-town stop for a long day out by yacht from La Cruz, away from the crowds of Sayulita and Puerto Vallarta.
Near Lo de Marcos
San Pancho
A small town on the open Pacific coast of Nayarit, north of Sayulita and outside Banderas Bay. Yachts reach it on longer coastal trips from the north-shore marinas, roughly 22 nautical miles by sea from La Cruz.
- Swimming
- Whale watching
Rincón de Guayabitos
Rincón de Guayabitos is a beach resort village on Jaltemba Bay, on Nayarit's Pacific coast. Visitors come for its gentle waves and swimming, and for baby turtle releases and whale watching boat tours.
- Snorkeling
- Scuba diving
- Surfing
- Fishing
- and 1 more: Whale watching
Sayulita
A surf and fishing town on the Nayarit coast just north of Banderas Bay, and a long day out by boat from the bay's marinas.
Bucerías
A beach town of about 16,000 people on the north shore of Banderas Bay, in Nayarit. Yacht days along its shore start from Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz, about 2.3 nautical miles away.
- Swimming
Litibú Beach
A Pacific-facing beach on the north shore of the Punta de Mita peninsula, reached by boat around the point from the Banderas Bay marinas.
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
A fishing village on the northern shore of Banderas Bay, in the municipality of Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, about 25 km from Puerto Vallarta.
- Surfing
- Fishing
Punta de Mita
The headland that closes Banderas Bay to the north, in the Mexican state of Nayarit.
Wild Dolphins of Banderas Bay
Wild dolphins share Banderas Bay with the boats that cross it, and a morning spent looking for them is one of the quieter ways to see the bay. It is a search on open water, so a sighting is never certain.
Maps © OpenStreetMap
About Lo de Marcos
The town
Lo de Marcos belongs to the municipality of Bahía de Banderas in Nayarit. INEGI, Mexico's national statistics office, classes it as a rural locality, and the 2020 census counted 2,099 residents in 643 inhabited homes.
Where it lies
The town faces its own small bay, the Bahía de Lo de Marcos, with a white sand beach along its shore. It sits on the open Pacific coast beyond Punta de Mita, outside Banderas Bay itself. In a straight line it is about 4.6 nautical miles north of San Pancho and 7.2 nautical miles north of Sayulita, so the three make a chain along the same stretch of coast.
Getting there by yacht
None of the listed boarding points is in the town. The nearest is Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle: a boat runs west across the north of the bay, rounds Punta de Mita and turns north up the coast, about 25 nautical miles in all. From Marina Nuevo Vallarta or Paradise Village the same route is about 31 nautical miles, and from Marina Vallarta or Opequimar about 33. At 20 knots that is roughly an hour and a quarter from La Cruz and about an hour and forty minutes from Marina Vallarta, each way. A sailing yacht at 8 knots needs a little over three hours from La Cruz and a little over four from Marina Vallarta, so plan a long full day.
Fishing
Small local pangas of around 20 feet head out from the beach and troll the open water beyond the bay for dorado, tuna, sailfish and marlin. Closer in, shore anglers work the mouth of the river at the beach, where pargo, a snapper, are landed at 20 pounds and more, along with Spanish mackerel.
What to know
We have no reliable account of an anchorage, a dock or a landing for a visiting yacht, so plan the day around staying aboard off the beach, with food, water and shade carried on the boat. How close a boat can come in on the day is something we'll confirm with the captain when you book.